Urban Trails (a.k.a. planes, ferries and automobiles)

Hey kids. I've been off the air for a bit here, doing some important research.

I've been in the Pacific Northwest with Jeff and the boys; working, vacationing and spreading international peace and good will.

We figured out a few weeks ago that it would cost us as much in diesel to drive the family to Seattle, as it would to fly us all out there. So here we are in Washington state, with a rental car (Nissan Sentra, after dodging the PT Cruiser bullet) and doing the urban circuit.

While Jeff was in meetings our first full day in Seattle, I did my requisite mass transit into the city. I always figure this is either an amazing experience, or a learning experience. Our hotel was right across the streeet from a bus stop into Seattle that stopped every 2-3 blocks for the next 195 blocks. I learned a lot.

1-1/2 hours later, we arrived in Seattle. It was interesting that I fretted more about trying to find the right bus back to our hotel in Seattle, then I did finding my way back on the metro in Paris. Whenever I have excruciating transit experiences, I always think, what if I didn't have a vehicle and this is how I had to get around? How much of my life would it suck up? How much would it suck?

My other urban downer for the trip was my stop at King Street Station in Seattle. Lucky for Seattle they have the Sounder, which is their local train mass transit that brings them into the city. They also have three different Amtrak lines that run through; the Empire Builder from Chicago, the Coast Starlight from LA, and the Cascade that runs between Eugene, OR and Vancouver. When we were in Seattle 4-1/2 years ago, they were remodeling the King St. Station, and I was excited to see what it looked like completed. Sadly, there was only one corner of the lobby complete, with the tile work and mosaic entry beautifully done, but the rest was still pretty rough.

The next day I'm up in Vancouver, driving by their train station. The outside looks fine, nothing fancy. But the inside is beautiful. It's clean and well maintained. It looks like a place that is frequently used and well maintained.

Vancouver was a beautiful city that definately had its own personality. There were tons of steel and glass skyscraper apartments that reminded me of Asia. Stanley Park, at the end of peninsula from downtown, was an amazing spot right next to the city. I've been told by someone in the know, that next time I'm in Vancouver, I should stay in the west end, by Stanley Park. That's where all the beautiful people are!

We've been on three different ferries during this trip. Our first, and most luxurious, was the ferry from Horshoe Bay, outside Vancouver, to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. It was huge, right on time and efficient. The next ferry left from Sidney, BC (outside Victoria) to Anacortes, WA. It's operated by the Washington State DOT and was about 1/3 - 1/4 the size of the BC ferry. The food service was worse, we had to go through customs twice, and it arrived about two hours later than I thought it would. I did manage a good nap on their long bench seats though.

Today we took a ferry to Guemes island, about 5 minutes by boat from Anacortes. The ferry is operated by Skagit County and is the only way to get you and/or your car to Guemes. The ferry departs promptly (we should know, we missed the first one) and you can see your destination across the water, including the road your car will drive up if you brought one. A lot of Guemes residents leave a car on the Anacortes side and drive a beater on the Guemes side. There was a big debate on Guemes when they upgraded from a 9 car ferry to a 19 car ferry. A lot of folks were concerned about more riff raff from Seattle and other parts. Understandably so. But Guemes has survived these and other upgrades, and still lives by its own rules. It reminded me of home that way.

I'm now planning a trip with the women friends. It involves flying into Seattle, a train trip to Vancouver, a ferry trip to Vancouver Island, and the ferry back to the states after a visit to Victoria. It involves more transportation and logistics than it should, but maybe the journey could be the trip. The trickiest part of could be getting out of the Seattle airport. The bus takes forever.